Accused in Little Italy homicide appears in court, remanded until July 27

TORONTO, Ont. – A 26-year-old man made a court appearance, Friday, to face a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of John Raposo in Little Italy on Monday.

On Thursday, Toronto police arrested Dean Wiwchar, 26, from Stouffville, Ont. In his brief appearance in the prisoner’s box Friday morning, Wiwchar said little outside of his name when asked by the Justice of the Peace.

He will make another court appearance via videolink on July 27.

Raposo, 35, was shot and killed outside the Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe, located at College Street and Montrose Avenue.

Before entering the courthouse, Wiwchar’s lawyer, Christopher Avery, said his client is from Stouffville, and not from British Columbia, as was earlier stated by Toronto police.

“Mr. Wiwchar’s now been remanded for four weeks, pending receipt of disclosure in custody as is required by the criminal code on a charge of First-Degree Murder,” he told reporters.

Avery said his client will plead not guilty, and added his client does not know the victim and is very upset by this.

“He’s very upset, he’s shocked,” he said. “He has no idea why he’s been charged.”

“He finds the entire experience surreal and he’s looking forward to the opportunity to plead not-guilty on this matter, and he’s looking forward to seeing what the evidence is against him so he can find out why he’s here,” he added. “His story will be told in front of the jury.”

Wiwchar served 90 days of jail time in B.C. for assaulting a peace officer and uttering threats in 2009, where some members of his family and his girlfriend live, and he was also convicted of robbery around five to six years ago in York Region.

“He committed a crime in the past, he’s paid for it and served his time,” Avery said.

Det. Sgt. Terry Browne told 680News Wiwchar was arrested Thursday after police located him in a taxi cab traveling in the Parliament Street and Gerrard Street East. Avery said that his client was surprised by the way he was arrested, saying it was a little much for a man travelling alone in a cab.

Avery did not have an answer as to where his client was at the time of the shooting, but did say “he was not committing the crime at the time of the crime.”

Police said a number of items were seized at the time of the arrest, but would not say if one of the items was a weapon.

Det. Sgt. Browne said when Wiwchar was arrested he was in possession of a number of different pieces of identification.

“He did have multiple identification on his person. The name that we know him to be and some other identification which I will not divulge at this point,” said Det. Sgt. Browne.

Police thanked the public and business in the Little Italy area for their assistance with the case.

“The overwhelming support that we’ve had from residents in the area that were out and about, from the business community proper was a very pivotal starting point for me as an investigator. The information that we have learned from that point really set us in a direction to go with this (investigation) so, again, I can’t thank the public and businesses enough,” said Det. Sgt. Browne.

The Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe reopened at 9 a.m. Friday after being closed on Monday.

The funeral for Raposo was held Friday morning at St. Mary’s Church on Adelaide Street, near Bathurst street. A church official said it was a private service.